Happy New Year, and a happy holiday tournament – round 2

Last week, most of the local basketball attention was on the Bulldogs who were featured as the host team in our own Twin Lakes Holiday Classic tournament.

With a top class of participating teams, as is always the case, the Dawgs got off to a 2-0 start in our Classic with wins over Marion County and South Oldham, which moved them into the championship game against another 4th Region team, where the Dawgs gave up a close game to the Spartans of South Warren, 72-62.

This week, the Bulldogs head off to the 8th Region for the NAS Tournament where they will be competing against host Carroll County as well as Bethlehem, Central Hardin and St. Francis.

Good luck Dawgs and staff, and hopefully we’ll bring home some wins to add to our current 7-5 record, and maybe some new hardware for the trophy case as well.

Before we move on to this week’s Best of the Lakes Classic lineup, I will shore up my previous comments about the high level of class that Clinton County always rolls out as a host for these events.

Last week, while working the Official Table during the Twin Lakes Classic, I spoke with several people who were here with visiting teams, both staff and fans and every single one had nothing but great things to say about how they and their team had been treated as they visited restaurants and businesses across Clinton County, as well as the level of hospitality they had been shown by the school and tournament officials.

Always makes you proud to hear good things about our hometown when we take on the role of host.

On the girls’ side, after picking up the second win of this season in the Arby’s Classic with a nice 54-44 win over host McCreary Central, our Lady Dawgs will move into the host role themselves with this week’s Best of the Lakes Holiday Classic beginning Thursday in The Castle.

As is always the case when Clinton County plays host to a Classic or any tournament, the event will be first class and from the lineup of teams headed to Albany this week, local fans should have plenty of entertainment on the floor.

Including Clinton County (2-10), this year’s Best of the Lakes Classic will see five Kentucky teams including Clay County (9-2), Dayton (4-8), McCreary Central (5-8), Russellville (0-9) and Cumberland County (0-10), as well as two teams from Tennessee, Livingston Academy (5-7) and Red Boiling Springs (10-6).

As for the schedule, the Classic is a pool based system and the action will get underway on Thursday at 3:00 p.m. with Clay County going up against McCreary Central, followed by a 4:30 start of Dayton against Red Boiling Springs, then a 6:00 tip between Livingston and Russellville and finally the nightcap featuring Clinton County going up against Cumberland County at 7:30.

On Friday, Cumberland County and Dayton get things off and running at 3:00, McCreary Central and Russellville tip at 4:30, Clay County and Livingston go at it at 6:00 and Clinton County plays Red Boiling Springs at 7:30.

Saturday will be the marathon day of girls’ basketball at The Castle, with action set to start at 9:00 a.m. with Russellville playing Clay County, Cumberland County and Red Boiling Springs getting underway at 10:30, Dayton and Clinton County tipping at 12:00 noon and Livingston going up against McCreary Central at 1:30 p.m.

The second round of action Saturday will be the pool playoffs that will determine the final places between the eight team lineup.

Those pool matchups will get underway at 3:00, 4:30, 6:00 and the championship matchup at 7:30.

Whew – tired yet?

Should be some top notch action this week for local fans, with a lineup of teams that appear going in to be relatively close talent wise with perhaps Clay County and Red Boiling Springs being the front runners among the eight teams.

Come out to The Castle this week and enjoy the fun with some of the best girls’ high school basketball action this part of the state will have to offer.

Up next, we start with a couple weeks of regular scheduled games, then it’s straight into the All ‘A’ Classic regional action, and once again, local fans will be staying home as Clinton County plays host again.

To all of my readers of this column…

Happy New Year

and…

It’s high school basketball season and I’ll see you in the gym – don’t bother me until April!